Durham Region wins Good Roads’ Municipal Paving Project of the Year Award

Whitby, Ontario – At the recent Good Roads Conference, Durham Region, in partnership with Road Surface Recycling Limited, won the 2025 Good Roads’ Municipal Paving Project of the Year Award for our pilot project for road rehabilitation using Hot-In-Place Recycling (HIR) technology. The project was completed along four kilometres of Shirley Road (Regional Road 19) in the Township of Scugog and 4.2 kilometres of Regional Highway 2 in the Municipality of Clarington.

The costs incurred were lower than expected, which enabled the Region to add two more locations to the contract, including a 2.2 kilometre road segment on Lake Ridge Road (Regional Road 23) in the Township of Brock and the access road and parking lot at the Waste Management Centre on Garrard Road in the Town of Whitby. 

HIR is an innovative approach that was tested to determine if it would repair asphalt, extend the life of the road and reduce waste. Challenging road segments were chosen for this pilot to test the limits of this method. This approach uses heat to create natural bonds between the layers of the asphalt to help reduce water infiltration, potholes and cracking during the frequent freeze-thaw cycles we experience in Canada. With this process, the volume of aggregate materials, typically mined and trucked in for road construction, are significantly reduced, thereby lowering costs and reducing the environmental impact. No pavement waste was generated during the pilot, as all existing aggregates and asphalt cement were fully recovered and reused. This significantly lowered costs and reduced the environmental impact. Other benefits of the HIR process included faster resurfacing and with minimal traffic disruption. This reduces the time and money required for rehabilitation work with less inconvenience to motorists.

Good Roads’ Municipal Paving Awards annually recognize successful municipal-private sector collaborations for excellence and innovation in paving projects in Ontario.

Good Roads is a municipal association that focuses on the quality and design of roads in Ontario. They have been devoted to the cause of better roads since 1894. Originally known as the Ontario Good Roads Association (and still using that name corporately), their members include most of Ontario’s municipalities and a growing number of First Nations as well as dozens of affiliated corporate members in the transportation and infrastructure sectors. For more information, visit goodroads.ca.

Quote:

“Durham Region continues to adopt and test new technologies like HIR to learn what works best in real-world conditions, to reduce our carbon footprint and meet our climate goals. The lessons learned here will inform design and specifications for future projects. This award from Good Roads recognizes Durham Region’s leadership in piloting new approaches within this industry.”

-          Dan Waechter, Director of Capital Projects Delivery

Quick facts:

• The HIR process included six integrated steps: pre-heating, gradation adjustment, hot milling, asphalt cement rejuvenation, mixing and relaying.
• For this project, a one-metre shoulder widening was added using oxidized crushed RAP imported from an asphalt plant, which is the first time this was done in an Ontario paving project.
• Challenging road segments were chosen for this pilot in order to test the limits of this new recycling road rehabilitation technology and methodology. 
• The new asphalt mat supported traffic very well, with less traffic disruption and time required compared to traditional mill and overlay operations. 
• This method can be repeated for future rehabilitations on the same roadway by continually recycling the aggregate and restoring the asphalt.

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